by Tao Wong
Morphic Disguise Spell *
Design & save 1 full body design/10 levels. -5 to Constitution while in any Disguise affecting more than 50% mass. (Polymorph Only) 24 hr cooldown & affected by Minor Morph cooldown.
Minor Morph Spell
Design & save minor modifications under 10% mass. Up to 5 saved traits/10 Levels (Polymorph Only) 8 hr cooldown after affecting more than 30% mass.
Environmental Barrier Spell
Absorb nutrients and trace Mana by crushing the juices from nearby plants. Creates a weak armor layer from the pulp. Running out of Mana before releasing the residue results in shredded skin. (Polymorph Only)
Dimensional Lab (Perk)
A dimensional space designed to store and process chemicals; Spells: Identification, Breakdown, Recipe Record, Experimental Blending, and Creation; Spells only available within laboratory.
Note: Initiates Apothecary Class; Rare "Toxic" variation is only available to Polymorphs.
Scan
Research the properties of substances and systems to inform replication via morphing.
Racial Trait
Description
Remorph Skill
Easily return to unaltered Polymorph body, resized according to mass. Heals damage, aside from suboptimal-mass debuffs.
Body Morph Skill
Alter appearance naturally by using a practical, practiced understanding of physical traits & the qualities of the tissue. DNA based replicas become possible with skill mastery.
Optimal Mass
Optimal mass determines the scope of potential transformations. Morphing into shapes outside of optimal mass range comes with increasing debuffs.
Non-Standard
Mental Makeup
Gives a high resistance to traditional mental and charisma influences. Reduces access to memories of physical pain and torturous experiences. Highly susceptible to manipulation by those who have experience/Skills/Spells for dealing with Polymorphs.
Absorb
Draw in Mana, air, and nutrients via direct contact with fluids or atmosphere.
Hibernation
Stay alert up to seven days, followed by 22 hrs of hibernation.
Toxin Resistance
Unaffected by most toxins.
Purge
Filter toxins from blood/living tissue in self (& others when combined with absorb). A necessary first step before switching secreted toxins.
Toxin Production
Create and secrete a single toxin based on a tangible sample.
Intermission Five
“Interesting. I’ll let Lord Roxley know. But in the short-term, the Boheva and their wards are of little consequence to us,” Vir said, dismissing the note. “As for the race changes, I believe many will come to regret those choices in the end. Perhaps not this one… but most.”
“Like Tim, because he doesn’t feel human anymore?” Amelia’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“And is not really of the other species, yes,” Vir said. “It is not as simple as purchasing a gene wash to be another species. Culture, beliefs, experiences are not something the System can easily provide.”
“But it can.”
“For a price. And only as an informational download.” Vir shook his head. “A dog given sapience is still a dog in the end. A human changed into another race might, biologically, be of that race, but they will not think like them. Not yet. In time, some of their behaviours might reflect their races. It can be as simple as a preference for sunny spaces or open accommodations, but they will not be of that race.
“Galactic experience has shown that such drastic changes are rarely to the satisfaction of those involved. In fact, many decide to change back eventually. Others, find themselves in their own communities.”
“Huh.” Amelia leaned back. There were parallels to pre-System life, of course, but those parallels were only surface deep. Still, it was something worth considering and raising. A new factor to watch for, especially as the children who grew up in the apocalypse neared their age of majority. More complications.
For a time, the pair worked in silence, going over the documentation. Occasional new stories arose, were debated and filed away. It was one other file that sent shivers down her back. A reminder, of the kind of world that they had survived. The destruction that they had all seen. And barely escaped.
Overture to Obliteration
by L.A. Batt
[Author’s note: This story contains Te Reo and Māori words and phrases. For a simple description and pronunciation guide, please refer to the section at the end where each of these words have been listed in the order they are mentioned. Thank you for reading.]
I’m dead.
Well, not really, but with all that’s happened since the System kicked in ten months ago, turning our lives into some kind of messed up role-playing game, it’s been easier to get through the day if I think I’m already worm food. As the old saying goes, the lower your expectations, the less you're let down.
You might be asking yourself, what’s a win look like for this joker? If I’m being honest, all I want before that final nap is to listen to some actual music again. Gods, how I miss music.
***
I scream as my jacket and chest are mauled by three razor-sharp claws, dropping my health from near full to just below half. Are you serious? That was my favorite gods-damned jacket. Now I’m pissed. I scramble back while fumbling down a health potion. Mid-gulp, I narrowly avoid a follow-up strike from the Kiwinuipāhue’s massive beak.
“Oi, Nate! You right?” Jason—sorry, Jase—my remaining party member calls. I ignore him for the moment. “Yeah, you look all right. I’ll, uh, stay over here. Yell out if you die, ‘kay?”
Being a Level 25 Barkeep he doesn’t have any offensive skills, save a few melee moves he picked up from the Shop for dealing with the odd roughneck. Honestly, he’s only out here for the free XP. Well that, and to act as a second pair of eyes while I hunt.
“Mother…” I leap aside, dodging another leg attack. The wounds across my alabaster skin stretch, itching as the health potion does its trick.
“Fucking…” When I roll to the right, the overgrown fowl rushes past, blasting through the trunk of a tree, throwing wood chippings, dirt, and foliage into the air.
“Killer…” Shit! I stumble back a few steps. With all the debris flying around, that swipe came a bit too close.
“Kiwis!”
I finally find my moment and plant my feet. As the Kiwinuipāhue comes at me, I renew the activation for Warrior’s Rage, temporary boosting my strength by four, and thrust the tip of my spear straight through its right eye and into the dino-vampire-bird’s cranium.
As the Kiwinuipāhue spasms, I hold fast, continuing to allow the adrenaline from the fight to bubble inside me. Finally, I see the glow of its remaining red eye go dark and feel its body go limp. These pricks have tricked me before though, so I wait a touch longer to make sure it’s dead. A moment later my tension disappears a touch as the System message I’ve been waiting for appears.
Quest Updated: Cull the Bloody Plunderers (Repeatable)
Kill the roaming flocks of Kiwinuipāhue that have taken up residence in and around Maraetotara and the Nga Tapuwae O Toi Track.
Kiwinuipāhue Killed: 14 of 20
Nice. One kill closer to those sweet, sweet quest completion experience points.
After wriggling the spear free, I check the body for loot. Then I see them. They’re exactly what I’ve been spending the last few months out here collecting.
“Boo-ya!” I scream, jumping with joy.
Oops. Remembering where I am, I crouch, listening for any signs of movement.
“How’d’ya go? You get them?” Jase asks. “Can we head back’ta town now?”
Taking a moment to calm down, I reply in a softer tone, “Yeah, man, that, oh man. Haha!” I laugh, still unable to believe my luck. “This haul should actually tip me over my target.”
I do a few mental calculations whi
le scrolling through the System logs, and a stupidly large grin forms on my face.
Items acquired
1x Kiwinuipāhue corpse
1x Kiwinuipāhue beak
6x Kiwinuipāhue claws
2x Gastrolith Greenstone
The beak and claws should make for decent trophies I can use to boost my attributes using the Trophy Hunter skill. My last lot broke days ago, so these replacements will make things easier going forward. The real jewel though… well, I only started the day with the hopes of finding enough loot to push me a little closer to my savings goal. But now, thanks to these rare greenstones, I’ll finally be able to afford an entry level Audiblic Split-Mind Implant, with the module titled Audio from Earth - The Complete Collection.
The first device, that one’s installed in your head. It allows you to store, play, and perfectly focus on two sources of sound at the same time. An elegant companion for a more bloodthirsty age. The second’s a library of every piece of recorded audio the System was able to gather from our world. Yep, the add-on contains every single news report, podcast, secret phone recording, and piece of music from Earth's digital history.
And I’m about to own. It. All.
I found these beauties in the Shop shortly after the Vaaharu turned up. The Vaaharu, see, they’re this weird-looking race of upright cat-humanoid creatures that rocked up and laid claim to my hometown, Whakatāne, then gave us access to the Shop. Well, it’s not like they did that last part on purpose. Having the Shop there just made what they were planning to do easier.
Once they were done setting themselves up, they went around hiring anyone willing to work for food and a little security, then enslaved anyone who pissed them off. Next thing you know they’re using our access to the ocean for a food-gathering operation to feed their settlement in Rotorua.
A lot of people were ticked off about all this. Whatever. New world, new rules. That shit happened a week or so after the System took over our lives, and that’s going on ten months now. Since then, while everyone else has been buying up the buildings around the Whakatāne High School and Kopeopeo—or trying to get what’s left of their whanau, err, family out of slavery—saving for these two marvels has been my one and only driving force. The thought of being able to listen to my favorite bands again sends cascading waves of joy through me. Just once more before I die.
After throwing the loot into my inventory, I close it and look at the cloud-filled sky. Pretty sure there’s a few hours of light left.
I look over at Jase. “While the hunting’s good, wanna try for a few more?”
A look of dread crosses his face.
“Besides,” I say, flourishing a hand before pointing at him, “I may have blown past my target, but we still need to eat, and you’re coming up on a year in this hellhole with only the ability to slap around a drunk. We need to get you some decent combat skills.”
“C’mon, man, everyone else has already head back, and these Level 50 zones freak me out. I only stayed ‘cause it’s good XP when it’s just us, but I sure as hell don’t wanna be ‘round when the grownups of that flightless fucker turn up.” Shuddering, he continues, “I really don’t want them following us back to town, bro. There’s so few of us left. Last time one snuck by the guards, six people were killed in their sleep.”
“Mmmmm, but—”
“Shrivelled up like raisins, Nate!” he says, emphasizing his point with his fingers. “Their faces were all screwed up like they were in agony but couldn’t do nothin’. They didn’t even get a chance to fight!” I look back, still unconvinced, and he gives me a serious glare. “You know they almost got El—”
“Ahhhhh! Okay, fine!” Throwing my hands in the air, I groan loudly in annoyed resignation. Then rounding on him, I thrust my finger in his face. “But dinner’s on you when we get back.”
Scoffing, he says, “Pfft. It’s my bar. It’s almost always my shout.”
“Ha!” I say as I walk toward town. “True that! But this time I’ve got an excuse. After a visit to the Shop I’ll probably be stone broke.”
“Didn’t ya just sa—”
“Besides”—I grin mischievously—“who’s to say we don’t run into something on the way?”
***
Growing up in this retirement village of a town, I never thought I’d be here in my thirties, let alone be stuck here when shit went post-apocalyptic. To be clear, it’s not as if any bombs were dropped or viral outbreaks occurred. No, we basically caused the annihilation of the human race all on our own, or so the various aliens we’ve encountered love to remind us.
All we had to do was follow one simple rule—treat guests with respect. Or something like that. Unfortunately, that’s a little hard to do when no one tells you the rules. Then again, maybe slicing open the first extra-terrestrial you come across isn’t the best way to introduce yourself to the galaxy. Thanks, America!
I kid! I’m sure we’d all have done the same thing. Well, maybe not Canada. Or Iceland. Or us here in little ol’ New Zealand, but who's to say? Guess it’d all depend on where they landed, and who they talked to, and to be fair, they really should have done some homework before being all like, “Oh, ‘ello, gov, I’m from the Galactic Council, this is the System, and your world is scheduled for demolition.”
Okay, so obviously I wasn’t in the room when they took the guy hostage and gutted him alive, but growing up on a healthy diet of Douglas Adams, Monty Python, and Phil Janes (The Galaxy Game, great book, highly recommended), I can only assume that’s how it went down.
On the surface, you’d think I’d be having a blast. Hell, I’m sure my teenage self would be going out of his mind with happiness. Slaying monsters, meeting aliens, scoring loot, levelling up, and getting the babe (because that’s what the story says will happen.) Yep, what’s not to love about having your whole world be turned into a role-playing video game? Oh right, all the death, destruction, general loss of life, and the fact that this. Isn’t. A. Game!
Sure, we have an inventory, pop-up windows, Skills and spells, but there’s no campaign. There is no epic story, no plot-armored companions or loved ones, and certainly no respawns. At least not for us sentients. Any moment could be my last. One wrong step, one missed attack, one unexpected monster spawn, and poof, it’s lights out. Just like damn near the entire freaking planet. Shit, man, there’re only a few thousand of us left round here—not including the cats, that is.
Man, I just want my music. Please let me live that long.
***
The walk back to town is mostly uneventful. Only one group ambushed us. A couple of Flametails came out of nowhere as we were leaving the bush trail at the base of Mokoroa. These mutated former fantails, now with two-meter-wide wingspans, leave a trail of roaring blue mana flames as they fly, and as you probably guessed, they use fire attacks. How they don’t burn down the countryside is beyond me. Quirks of the System, I suppose.
Jase assists this time, pouncing on them to deal the killing blows after I finish instilling fear, stunning them with my level 1 skill in War Thunder. Downside to this final scuffle of the day—no decent loot. Plus side—the meat will still sell, so at least we managed to cover a light celebratory feast.
We part ways at the War Memorial Hall. Hoping to get more bang for our buck, Jase wanted to try flogging the Flametails off to the community hunters before making his way to the Shop. Meanwhile, I wander along Commerce Street, heading for the central business district.
Along the way I pass several groups of people reeking of fish. They’re workers coming from the makeshift factory down near the Information Centre, over where access to the Shop was set up. My guess is that the Vaaharu set up their little operation there so they could get the packaged food into the Shop quicker. Pretty smart of them to do that. Gave them plenty of automatic safe zones to fish from, and they only had to buy up a few of the buildings across the street to make their entire living area and workspace a monster-spawning-free space.
Rather than go dir
ectly to the Shop, I head toward my place to freshen up and replace my torn clothes. Won’t help me to look like a right mess in front of our alien overlords, especially when I live less than a five-minute stroll away.
As I walk, I get to thinking. Now that I’ve got enough for the audio equipment, I wonder how much it would cost to repair my jacket, or better yet, upgrade it? I figure before I make any rash decisions, I’d best check my skill sheet to see what I’m working with:
Status Screen
Name
Nathaniel Atkinson
Class
Kaikiko Toa
Race
Human (Male)
Level
37
Titles
Kai Taua, Pyrorational
Health
470
Stamina
470
Mana
320
Mana Regeneration
78 / minute
Conditions
Exhausted
Attributes
Strength
86
Agility
51
Constitution
47
Perception
51
Intelligence
32
Willpower
83
Charisma
22
Luck
21
Class Skills
Haka
(Level 1)
Haumia's Trap
(Level 1)
Te-koha-o-Tū
(Level 1)
Warriors Rage